Monday, 6 October 2008

Shotgun Stories [2007]

Shotgun Stories is the kind of independent movie that makes one sit up and take notice. Set against the harsh and rustic cotton fields of Arkansas, the movie is as much a tale of repressed hostility and violent eruptions, as it is an honest account and a lyrical ode to the sons of the soil. At the forefront of the movie, written and directed by Jeff Nichols, lies the story of three poor and closely-bound brothers, and the bitter feud that develops between them and their half-brothers, taking self-destructive proportions, following the death of their father. The feud (the seeds of which were sown long before the beginning of the film) doesn’t involve money or personal glory; rather this is one of pride, especially that involving their respective families and their individual beliefs. Shot brilliantly against the bleak and unforgiving landscape and set at a lumbering pace that grows onto the viewers, this well-enacted story might just have introduced to the film community a very promising director, and hopefully ensured wider recognition for an extremely talented character actor (Michael Shannon), who with his simmering anger, brooding presence, and a plethora of shotgun wounds indicating a frightening side to his character, is indeed the heart of the movie.